Formation of the Lengyel Culture in Southwestern Transdanubia

Based on a wealth of exciting new evidence from a rich array of sources, the monograph covers the formation of the Late Neolithic Lengyel culture in south-western Hungary, a minor region of the culture’s core territory. The process of the culture’s formation is traced through an in-depth typological analysis of the find material, various archaeological features and a study of the chronological position of three sites. The large-scale excavations at two sites in the Sormás area provided new perspectives for research on settlement structures, while the unique mass grave uncovered at Esztergályhorváti was the most important source for the physical anthropology of the period’s population as well as for its absolute chronology, and served as a reference in the evaluation of the new radiocarbon data. Enclosure No. I at Sormás-Török-földek, dating to the formative Lengyel culture, can be regarded as one of the earliest genuine circular enclosures. The investigations at this site are of immense significance for archaeoastronomical research. The archaeological chapters are supplemented with a wide range of interdisciplinary studies. The four sections of the Appendix covering the lithic finds and raw materials, archaeozoology, environmental history and physical anthropology offer many insights into the complex dynamics leading to the emergence of the Lengyel culture. An extensive settlement with houses and ditch systems of the Sopot and Lengyel cultures was investigated at Sormás-Török-földek, the first instance of a site where both cultures were documented. A comparison of the two cultures at this site revealed that the Middle Neolithic Sopot culture played a far more decisive and complex role in the genesis of the Lengyel culture than earlier assumed.